“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
-Preamble of the U.S. Constitution
In 2004, the federal government designated September 17 (observed September 16 in 2011) as Constitution and Citizenship Day. The federal holiday commemorates the signing of this key document more than 200 years ago at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787.